


A Sign of the Times

by Emily_Goldfinch



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Coffee Shops, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Rivalry, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2020-10-14 08:36:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 16,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20597858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emily_Goldfinch/pseuds/Emily_Goldfinch
Summary: When Amy Santiago decided to open a coffee shop she thought that she would become friends with the other business owners in the mall.Oh boy was she wrong.This is a coffee shop au with a side of business rivals thrown in for good measure.





	1. The New Store on the Block

Someone had decided that it would be a great idea to open up another coffee shop directly across from The Precinct. That someone was Amy Santiago and while she would defend her idea and strategy to the death it was without a doubt a risky move to open across from such a popular cafe. The Precinct had recently developed some sort of insta-fame. Thanks in large part to Gina Linetti, social media extraordinaire, The Precinct was busier than ever and was packed out at all hours of the day and night.

The front of The Precinct was aesthetically pleasing with floor to ceiling windows and an incredible amount of police memorabilia littering the walls. Their drinks menu was themed out to the max with their urban police precinct theme obvious throughout the store. Their most popular drink was the "Peralta" and no one had managed to replicate whatever the secret ingredient was that made it taste so good. Their menu was the talk of many foodie blogs and it was often difficult to find a table. The store sprawled out onto the footpath with tables and chairs which they put out during the warmer months. 

It was a hotspot of activity and had a loyal following of regulars. They held events which sold out quickly and were therefore incredibly difficult to get tickets to. On any given day you could find any number of wannabe insta-celebs trying to get the perfect shot to share to their audiences. Their rushes often had line ups out the door. For all intents and purposes business was booming. It would be almost impossible to compete with such a popular cafe. There was a reason that the store front across from them had been vacant for so long. No one had managed to compete with The Precinct in years, a number of cafes had tried it but they all eventually failed. 

Amy had reasoned that it wasn't business suicide to open across from them as her cafe had a significantly different theme and was therefore targeting a different type of customer. In reality she had fallen in love with the building. Her gut had told her that this was the place and she had stuck with that feeling. Also based on her detailed analysis of rent price to location desirability her new location was perfect the one issue was such strong competition from just across the way. 

Rather than opt for a modern store layout she had leaned into the mid-century charm of the building. Part coffee shop, part bookstore, the shop was full of elegant but mismatched furniture with large bookshelves lining the walls and plenty of comfortable couches and reading nooks for her customers. The facade had three large windows with "Santiago's Cafe" written across them in an old style font. There was a small outdoor seating area in the tiny alley way to the side of the building which was joined to the cafe through a series of folding doors which opened to combine the indoor and outdoor spaces. Amy had been incredibly proud of her vision and how it had come to life. It was exactly the type of place she'd always wanted to have growing up.

After months of planning and decorating and organising signage Amy was full of nerves as opening day finally arrived. Flipping the sign in the window to open she was finally in business.

To mark the occasion she had organised a small celebration for the opening of her store. Through social media she had advertised the opening with the promise that coffee was half price on opening day. So when she unlocked the door and the line that had formed outside slowly began making its way inside she could barely contain her glee.

Moving to the cash register she started putting orders through while her staff worked around her. Luckily she had already put them through training and team exercises because they were working well together despite the rush. That first day she didn't get an opportunity to take a break so when five o'clock came and the last customer left the store she just about flopped into the nearest chair to give her feet a well needed break.

After catching her breath she began cleaning the store so they would be ready for the next day. It didn't take long for her and her staff to finish. Once they were done she asked them to wait a minute before she retreated to her office in the back room. She quickly found what she was looking for and went to rejoin her staff.

When she reemerged her staff fell quiet, "I would just like to thank you for all your hard work both in preparation for the opening and today. It has been an incredibly successful day and I can only hope for many more like it."

Grabbing the bottle of bubbly she had set down on the table behind her she popped the cork and poured it into mugs from the coffee machine to share it around. Raising her glass she toasted, "To Santiago's" 

"To Santiago's" was the echoed reply and with grins on everyone's faces they toasted to the success of their first day in business. 

Her success on opening day had continued as she settled into her new business. Her menu was simple with cafe favourites and a large array of breakfast options as well as single source small batch roasted coffee. It had taken her weeks to choose her suppliers and she had made the right choices. The yelp reviews were rolling in praising everything from the customer service to the coffee to the food to the general ambience. Soon Santiago's become a go to spot with regulars she began to recognise.

It was hard work but it was rewarding to see her business grow. She was meticulous and soon her business began to work like clockwork. It didn't take long for Amy to fall into a routine. Get up. Get dressed. Open the store. Close the store. Eat dinner. Go to bed. The only difference to this daily routine was Wednesdays which Amy took off to complete her book work and entrusted the store to Rosa while she was in her office. It was on one such Wednesday when during the after lunch lull in the store Amy heard a knock on her office door.

"Come in," Amy was on edge and ready for anything, normally Rosa wouldn't disturb her while she was working.

"Have you seen The Precincts sign?"

Given the obvious non emergency status of Rosa's interruption Amy went back to her paperwork with a non committal, "no, why?"

"I think you're going to want to see it."

Standing Amy gestured for Rosa to lead the way. Following Rosa to the sidewalk she could see a mass of people around the entrance to the precinct and she could see their sign. It was a simple a-frame sign with the logo on black at the top and a space for staff to write a message underneath with chalk. On the message portion of the sign in frankly beautiful calligraphy was a message. Or as Amy saw it a challenge.

"The Precinct: the original and the best"

That was it. She had been happy to be peaceful neighbours with the other cafe. She had never met the owner of the precinct but she thought they had an unspoken agreement. They were going to be amicable neighbours but this was it. If they wanted war. She would give them war. In hindsight this was perhaps a bit of an overreaction but Amy was not one to back down from what was so clearly a taunt directed at her and her business. Whether this was a challenge or not Amy Santiago was accepting it and she was going to win.

"Rosa, I need you to update our sign."

Come opening the next morning Amy was excited for what the day would bring. Setting the chairs and tables on the sidewalk before putting her sign out just beyond them where the oncoming foot traffic could clearly read it.

"You may be the original but certainly not the best."

The next day The Precinct had clearly read the sign because theirs had been updated once more.

In retaliation Amy once more updated her sign. 

And The Precinct updated theirs and so on.

After a few weeks the signs became more dramatic and were updated less frequently but the argument was still going strong with both sides clearly unwilling to back down. They were no longer changing their signs everyday, it had decreased to every few days, but still they kept trying to one up the other. One day Amy finally crossed an unspoken line and truly declared war on her neighbour.

"Now honouring The Precinct loyalty cards, come in and see what you've been missing" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading the first chapter of my cafe au. I've been working on this for so long I'm so excited to share it.  
Any comments, questions and concerns are appreciated and can be sent to me via the comments below or to my tumblr @emily-goldfinch.


	2. A Fight You Can't Win

Jake had been owner and operator of The Precinct for years when Santiago's opened up across from him in the 99th street outdoor mall.

His business had been booming and gaining more customers everyday as they gained more and more traction on social media. Demand was so high that his baristas never seemed to be able to get ahead of the orders. There was often a line-up to be served and during the lunch rush there was a solid wait time on being seated. 

Although the success of The Precinct was in no small part thanks to Gina Linetti. She refused to let him pay her a cent because, "I'm amazing and I'm an investor I get paid in the profit you're making." Which while true astounded Jake because she had put in so much work to make his business successful and he wanted to pay her fairly for her frankly astounding work.

Unpaid social media guru extraordinaire Gina Linetti had been managing the brands marketing since Jake's style of almost exclusively posting die hard references had fallen short and not really gained them the attention they had wanted. She had worked with his baristas to ensure that all the coffee was instagram worthy and had redecorated the space to maximise the appeal of the shop. She was continuously managing Charles, the chef, who was always trying to reinvent the menu and at least once a week Gina was forced to remind him it was a cop themed cafe and that no the customers would not enjoy bull testicle soup. While Jake owned the shop Gina had spent years building its reputation and she had done an amazing job.

The new cafe across the way shouldn't have been an issue for an established business like The Precinct. However, they had managed to gain customers much faster than Jake had anticipated and unfortunately for Jake some of those customers had once been loyal customers to The Precinct. So when three months after the opening of Santiago's and his sales still hadn't recovered he made a (slightly) rash decision the consequences of which he couldn't have been prepared for. Placing the sign out front of his store wasn't something he really considered, like many things within his life he had a feeling that he needed to do something so he did it. And thus began the feud.

It was petty squabbling really, nothing more than thinly veiled insults and claims of superiority. Unfortunately Jake had never met the owner of Santiago's and therefore had no idea that once Amy Santiago decided something was a competition she would stop at nothing to win. 

Meanwhile unknown to both cafe owners one Miss Gina Linetti, social media entrepreneur extraordinaire, had been documenting the feud and the powder keg that started as bickering between two cafes was about to explode onto a national stage. 

Gina had created an account dedicated to the feud between the stores. @cafewars had soon become a popular account with their follower count reaching ten thousand people within a few weeks. She had photographed every sign and posted it online, she held polls on her Instagram stories and more importantly she had promoted the here out of the account. After weeks of posting the people of Tumblr had discovered @cafewars and after one or two incredibly popular Tumblr posts the word was out and people began deciding which team they wanted to support. 

Buzzfeed wasn't too late to the party as they published a listicle and presented the feud from the beginning. From there more and more web based news sites began to pick up on the feud and even one or two news programs mentioned the feud on air. It seemed the final challenge issued by Santiago's was enough to create the massive controversy which finally ignited the internet. The internet was firmly split into two camps the first was on team Santiago's side who thought that by creating the first sign The Precinct started it and therefore was responsible for all that followed. The second and admittedly larger vamp was on team precinct who thought that the final sign was too much and that sort of underhanded tactic was an unfair blow. 

Once the story had gone viral the internet wanted to know more about how it started, who was behind it and there was even a (small) group of people who believed the two owners were working together the whole time and the whole feud was just a publicity stunt. So resident internet expert Gina Linetti knew that the only way to get the most out of their newfound vitality would be to make the people behind the feud likeable. Put a face and a person to the name. 

Gina Linetti, master of convincing one Jacob Peralta to do whatever she desires had managed to convince Jake to do an exclusive interview to discuss the feud. So there he was in the cafe, hours after they had shut, sitting down with a camera in his face and squinting into the two incredibly bright lights which seemed to shine directly into his eyes. 

"What's up, G-hive. Today I'm sitting down with the owner of The Precinct to debunk some myths about this feud and spill all of the tea and maybe some coffee too." 

Realising that he was staring at the camera lens Jake tried ignore the fact that this video would likely be watched by thousands of people and instead tried to focus on just talking to Gina like a normal human being. Although he had seen some of Gina's fans completely loose the ability to talk in her presence he refused to do or say anything which could be turned into an embarrassing meme. 

"So Jake you are the owner of The Precinct and you personally started the feud. Why?"

"Well I didn't really want to start a feud. It just sort of happened. I wrote on the sign and then next thing I know they had responded and at that point it felt rude not to respond. You know? So I just did."

Gina's questions continued but started to wander off topic and soon Jake was spilling his guts about everything from opening his cafe to his currently in ruins love life. as much as Jake wanted to stop oversharing to the internet something about Gina seemed to make it very clear that they would be done when she wanted them to be done. Just as he seemed to no longer have anything to tell the internet, Gina signed off and stopped the recording. A wave of dread hit Jake as he realised just how much of his life he had shared with the internet. 

Turning off the lights and locking up the store Jake headed home for the night where he promptly set his alarm for the next morning and fell into bed.

His phone was far too loud. Groggily he reached over his bedside table. Blindly feeling for his phone he managed to find it and upon seeing the time shining too bright in his eyes he proceeded to throw his phone to the other end of the room.

5:30 why in the here was his alarm set for 5:30? 

It wasn't set for 5:30. His alarm wasn't due to go off for another two hours. Suddenly wide awake, Jake sat bolt upright in his bed before going to retrieve his phone. Praying that it wasn't broken from being lobbed across the room. 

Unlocking his phone the first thing he noticed was the dozens of notifications on his phone. The follower count on The Precinct's Instagram had exploded overnight. Their photos had gained thousands of likes. He was receiving messages from people he hadn't heard from in years. His phone was struggling to keep up with all the new messages, notifications and news alerts. Overnight Jake had become an internet sensation. 

That sinking feeling of dread from the interview earlier was wrong.

All of his secrets were on the internet.

And the internet loved him.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	3. Sign Etiquette

Watching the interview with the owner of the precinct was perhaps not the best idea Amy had had all day. While she would (begrudgingly) admit that he was cute his vague non-answers about the feud and the way he deflected the blame only infuriated her. Who was he to talk about peaceful coexistence when he had thrown the first stone or in this case created the first sign. When the interview switched to more personal matters Amy felt like she should stop watching, she had gained whatever business insight she had needed, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the screen. Something about him had her transfixed and she hated it. She especially hated the way this had made him the internet's darling. 

However, the worst thing by far in this entire situation was that they had gained the attention of Raymond Holt. Raymond Holt was the manager of the buildings they rented, he represented the owner of the building's that they rented and he had made it clear that no businesses within his management would be allowed to continue to create controversy. So there was the email that Amy had been dreading. The one which informed her that there was to be a meeting on Monday morning to establish some rules for sign etiquette. 

While Amy loved rules the thought of being called into a meeting with Holt was enough to make her start stress braiding. The development of Jake's interview had also made her question how they would see her actions. She was sure that he knew what the interview would do for his reputation. It had made him a sympathetic figure who had been working with Holt for years while she had only met Holt a handful of times.

The other, unforeseen consequence of the interview was the fact that she had become mysterious by default. The problem with this, at least for Amy, is that the internet doesn't like not knowing things. She had become the Sasquatch and the internet would stop at nothing to uncover who she was as a person. While she wasn't as intensely private as Rosa she had still enjoyed the anonymity she held as a normal human being. In one fell swoop Jacob Peralta had completely removed any chance she had at maintaining her privacy. 

Walking into the meeting on Monday morning was perhaps the most nerve wracking thing she had done in her professional life. It felt a lot like that one time she was called into the principal's office in school because she didn't want to take her recess break. As always she was fifteen minutes early and dressed impeccably in a light grey pantsuit. Sitting in Mr. Holt's office waiting for Jake to arrive was a particularly excruciating form of torture. When she had first arrived she had been shown into Mr. Holt's office who had continued working while seemingly not noticing her presence. 

Exactly as the clock ticked over to 10:00 am sharp Mr. Holt looked up from his computer.

"I'm so sorry I'm late."

"Morning Peralta, take a seat."

"I know the meeting was for nine thirty but I got held up..."

Holt held up a single hand for Jake to finish talking, "I purposefully gave you an earlier time so that you would only be slightly late not horrifically late." Looking chastised he took the seat next to Amy introducing himself quickly before Holt made it clear he was ready to continue. "I am sure you both know why you are here this morning. Here at the nine nine we pride ourselves on being a collaborative and peaceful community of business owners who work together for the collective good. Jacob as I am sure you are aware we have very strict policies about advertising and promotion and it is never to be conducted at the expense of another business. That said Miss Santiago it is incredibly unprofessional to attempt to undermine another business's loyalty program. We can peacefully coexist and I expect the two of you to behave in a manner more befitting your status as a business owner. I will however admit that this whole situation has created a new level of buzz and excitement about the mall. Moving forward you are not to honour the loyalty cards of the other store but for the purposes of continuing the buzz and excitement surrounding this feud you are to continue arguing through signage and Miss Santiago you are to also conduct an interview with Miss Linetti in the idea of balance. Have I made myself clear?"

Jake nodded his head vigorously as Amy managed a slightly feeble, "yes, sir."

"I will send a list of rules in regards to what the signs may say in the future. Any questions?"

Shaking their heads Holt waved a hand in dismissal. Standing up and walking out the door like a chastised schoolgirl Amy made her way back to her store. Outside the door Jake paused for a moment to say something to Amy before thinking better of it and walking away. It had been a busy morning and Rosa looked almost grateful to once again have the help of her boss as they finished up the last of the orders. Trying to ignore the sinking feeling that had set in immediately after the meeting with Holt, Amy engrossed herself in her work and let her growing resentment of Jacob Peralta grow as she thought about how this entire situation was now his fault. The fact she had to now do an interview was his fault. She had never met Gina Linetti and she was not looking forward to meeting her.

Only once the store was clean, the door was locked and Rosa had left for the night did she finally head into her office to check her emails.

Sure enough Holt had sent her an email with a list of guidelines attached and the details of her interview with Gina Linetti. It was to be tomorrow afternoon in the cafe just after closing. Sending a quick reply to Holt to confirm that she would be ready for Miss Linetti. She signed off of her computer and headed home for the night.

She woke up to her first alarm in the morning, she took extra care in choosing her outfit and she even took the time to do her makeup before heading to the store to open up for the day. The day passed by in a blur of customers and apparently the controversy had only served to attract more customers to the store because they seemed to be getting busier every day.

After the hectic day she felt gross. Leaving Rosa to finish up the last few things Amy quickly refreshed her makeup and changed into the extra clothes she had brought with her for precisely this reason. Rosa had just finished packing up for the day and was heading out when there was a knock at the door. Amy opened the door to reveal Gina Linetti, icon, who walked in with two massive studio lights.

Something Amy had never particularly wanted was to be interviewed and share all of her deepest darkest secrets with the world. Gina was far too good at convincing others to do what she wanted. It wasn't the sly used car salesmen sort of charm it was something about her confidence and belief in whatever she was asking you to do that made her so convincing. She had the sort of confidence that Amy could only dream of. Her introduction had been simple "Hi. I'm Gina Linetti the human form of the one hundred emoji."

Rosa hid her smirk behind her hand as she said goodbye to her boss and left Amy to whatever Gina decided this interview should be.

"So what do you need me to do?"

"Okay so first of all this decor is not horrible. But we need a good shot so can we set up there it has the nicest lighting also I need a power outlet."

Amy gestured vaguely to the power outlet on the wall before Gina continued, "And secondly Raymond has asked me to be nice but I'm on #teamprecinct so I'm not going to betray my boy Jake," and with that Gina grabbed her lights and began to set up the camera for the interview.

Amy's jaw dropped slightly at Gina's frankness before schooling her features into a more neutral expression and attempting to help her set up. It didn't take too long before they were ready to go.

Sitting down next to each other Gina said, "and we're rolling" and just like that with little warning they were live to the internet.

"What's up G-hive I'm coming to you live from Santiago's right now to give you the other half of the story. With me now is Amy Santiago who owns Santiago's. Say hi to the G-hive Amy."

Offering a meek wave to the camera Amy tried to gather up her confidence and smile at the camera. They started discussing the feud and how hard it is to be a female business owner. Before moving to more personal tid-bits where Amy talked about her seven brothers and how she had always been a coffee snob. Her love for books and scrapbooking and stationary. And finally her passion for her business Amy had just started to relax into the interview when Gina wrapped it up and signed off.

Despite the fact she had shared things she hadn't planned to Amy felt better than she had in months and decided not to ruin the feeling by going online. Muting her notifications till 7 the next morning when she would be getting up anyway she headed home for the night and curled into bed for a peaceful night’s sleep.

The internet is the internet though and waking up the next morning forced her to burst the bubble she had been in since the interview. Her curiosity overwhelmed her and she started the long process checking and sorting through her notifications. 


	4. That Ship Has Sailed

Jacob Peralta was many things but punctual was not one of them. Many years of working with Holt had done little to improve his time management skills so he was half an hour late to the meeting to discuss the sign controversy. However, many years of working with Jake had taught Holt exactly how late Jacob would be to any given meeting. Adjusting the time he told Jacob allowed for him to be late but not to the detriment of Holt or Miss Santiago.

Walking in or rather running in late was never a good look and he was rushing through his apologies as Holt told him to sit. Sitting down Jake finally looked over at the other person in the room; Miss Amy Santiago, owner of Santiago's and was immediately struck dumb by how pretty she was. No like seriously who was out here allowing straight up goddesses to open small coffee shops which ended up stealing half his business. After a few seconds of staring numbly at her she held out her hand, "I'm Amy Santiago owner of Santiago's"

Taking her hand he went to say Jacob Peralta owner of The Precinct but what came out instead was, "Wow you handshake is really firm."

With an almost smug look on her face she released his hand, "Thanks I took a seminar."

Once again rendered speechless Jake finally managed to introduce himself before Holt cleared his throat clearly ready to continue with the meeting.

The rest of the meeting went by in a blur before they were dismissed. He paused to tell Amy he was sorry for everything before he thought better of it and continued back to his store without uttering a word.

The meeting was mortifying so he was determined to focus on his work rather than dwell on how he had embarrassed himself in front of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Focusing on his work had failed him and after dwelling on the mortifying ordeal that was the meeting and the unjust nature of the new rules imposed for days. On Tuesday night when his Twitter alarm went off to say that Gina had tweeted that she would be going live in 10 minutes he decided that a Gina livestream would be a great distraction and logged on to YouTube to watch.

When the livestream finally began Jake felt his jaw hit the floor. How could he be so stupid of course it would be Amy's interview. Debating about whether he should just exit the video his cursor hovered over the x button. After a good thirty seconds of internal debate he decided that maybe this would be good. Maybe he could gain some valuable insight into her business and how they could coexist. Hell he might even work out if there was a way for them to become friends.

Settling in to watch he was transfixed for a full thirty minutes until Gina signed off and the live stream ended.

His first thought was that this was a mistake. A huge mistake. While he thought she was beautiful when they met the livestream had maybe created a small crush. He was enchanted from her ridiculously nerdy jokes to the way she laughed to the way she told stories.

The livestream had made one thing clear Amy Santiago was a good person who he would very much like to get to know. Suddenly feeling way worse about the meeting with Holt he decided to head home and get some rest. He had fallen asleep in his office before and it had never been a good idea the next morning when he could barely walk because of his back. He had a feeling that tonight he would need to a good night's sleep.

Once he was home he had something to eat and got ready to go to bed. He crawled onto his lumpy mattress before an idea struck him. Perhaps he could watch the interview again and just notice her flaws this time. Watching the interview the first time had only made him feel worse so he used his stellar decision making skills again and decided that it wouldn't hurt to watch it again.

Okay so maybe he definitely had a crush on a woman he had only met once and that startling realisation could only have one solution so Jake used the one and only skill his father had taught him: to repress his feelings and run away from his problems. 

Going to bed that night Jake Peralta made himself a promise that he would stop thinking about Amy Santiago and move on with his life. 

Unfortunately for Jacob Peralta the internet had other ideas. Despite all of Amy's awkwardness and nerdiness the internet had decided that Amy Santiago was perfect for Jacob Peralta. The feud had once again exploded and this time it was worse. They were writing stories about him. About them.

Navigating the internet after they had made this decision became a minefield for Jake. His crush was reemerging from the place that he had shoved it down into and everywhere he turned on the internet there seemed to be more and more people with a concerning level of interest in his love life. 

Making the brave decision to mute his Facebook, Instagram and Twitter notifications he decided to head into the cafe to keep his mind preoccupied and try to forget about his little crush on the business owner across the way. 

His staff were unsurprised to find their boss in store. This wasn't the first time he had come in on his day off and they were sure it wouldn't be the last. 

Working through the day and keeping his hands busy he was pleased to discover that he had only thought about Amy once unprompted. Unfortunately, the number of customers who had asked about the feud was at an all time high and he was constantly being reminded of the one person he was trying to forget. 

He thought that once they had cleared the final customer of the day he could dive into the clean up and finally take his mind off it. Unfortunately he was once again proven wrong because Charles was apparently the unofficial captain of what the internet had dubbed Peraltiago. 

Charles had evidently been holding back because of the customers but once the final customer had left he exploded with comments, questions and observations which only served to further remind Jake of the feelings he was trying so desperately to bury. 

There would only be one thing worse for the crush that he was trying so desperately to bury. That one thing is seeing Amy Santiago. 

Jake should have known that he was all out of luck because as soon as he thought that there was a knock on the closed cafe door. 

Calling out a "We're closed." He did a double take as he spotted who it was through the windows. 

Amy Santiago gave him a small wave, "I know but I think we should talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading. Happy Halloween!   
You can find me on tumblr @emily-goldfinch.


	5. The Internet is Forever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me a bit to get this chapter out. I just finished my final year of uni so... I was doing that instead.

Within the process of checking her social medias the morning after her interview she was both relieved and disturbed by what she found. Firstly, she was relieved because the internet didn't hate her. They seemed to quite like her actually. There were multiple posts supporting her as a business woman of colour, applauding her for being a 'girl boss', and just general support. 

Secondly, she was disturbed because while she had received many positive responses to her interview there were just as many if not more responses about how her and Jacob Peralta would make a perfect couple. It didn't help that Gina had been actively encouraging these fan theories and giving them merit. While it was still weird to Amy that she had fans she thought that she would be able to ignore them. She was just a normal person not any sort of celebrity after all. 

After sorting through all of the tweets and messages she decided to just go into work as she always would and not even think about what the internet was saying. It was book work day, her favourite day of the week, and she looked forward to getting back to normal. 

After a few productive hours Rosa poked her head through the open door of Amy's office knocking lightly to get Amy's attention. A knot formed in Amy's stomach as she vividly recalled the last time Rosa had disturbed her during her book work and all the complications that followed. "Hey could you come and help us out the front Carla just burnt her hand and it's not too bad but she shouldn't be working with it." 

"Yeah, just give me a second." 

Rosa nodded quickly before disappearing back through the door to return to work. Throwing her hair up into a quick ponytail she grabbed her apron and went out to take over from the injured Carla. 

Amy saw the relief cross Carla's face as she took over on the till and told her to get her hand under cold running water. Amy had spent a lot of time serving her customers and usually it was a job that she really enjoyed. There were always some customers who were rude or entitled but Amy found them to be few and far between. Plus if a customer asked for the manager there was a certain amount of glee Amy could derive from the look on their face when she informed them that she was the owner. 

Today, however, was not a normal day for Amy. She had only served three customers before she got her first question about her interview, specifically if she knew how perfect her and Jake would be together. Her response that she had met him once and they had a long established status of enemies seemed to have little impact on dissuading the young woman of her romantic ideals. And so the day went on. Carla still had two hours of her shift to go when Amy had taken over from her, Amy was not going to make her staff member work through an injury and there was no one else was available to cover the rest of the shift. So she was stuck there until her afternoon shift employee came to take over. 

There seemed to be an unending line of customers who all had opinions on the situation. When the next shift came in to take over from Amy she very happily handed over to them to get back to her bookwork and restore the sense of peace that she had been feeling until she realised that what happens on the internet doesn't necessarily stay on the internet.

After struggling to concentrate on her paperwork for a few hours as she pondered the implications that the recent developments would have on her business, she decided to call it a day. She was already ahead on her book work so taking a half day wouldn't even put her behind. Rather than heading home, she reasoned that she should further investigate the online situation so that she could effectively manage the impact it would have on her business. 

After hours on the internet she had really found nothing new. The argument for them to become a couple was largely based on a few common points from their interviews. The fact that it was mostly baseless speculation reassured her greatly. There was not in fact something she was missing. It was just speculation. Baseless claims simply formed through the Internets' collective imagination.

While she was reassured that this while shipping thing would blow over in time as there was nothing to find which supported these theories; she was more concerned about the conspiracy corner of the internet who were now convinced that the signs and the rivalry were all ploys to gain more business and internet fame, and that they'd actually been dating for years. As evidence of this conspiracy they were touting a photo of Jake with a woman who had her back to the camera but sort of vaguely looked like Amy. 

Rosa popped her head into the office to let Amy know the cleaning was done and they were heading out for the day. Dismissing her with a smile and a wave she bid them good afternoon and began formulating her game plan. 

There were many factors to consider; the businesses, the feud, the internet's reaction, becoming friendly enough to work together in the future, Jake's reaction. All of her reasoning and thinking was pointing her in one direction, She should talk to Mr. Peralta and at least get on the same page to be able to strategize about the signs. Also he should know about the conspiracy theories because while it was not Amy in those pictures he might want to think about tightening his security preferences on social media. 

Resolved to emailing him in the morning Amy decided to head home for the night. As she was walking past The Precinct she realised that the lights were still on and she could see him cleaning. Thinking to herself that there is no time like the present she decided that they should deal with this as soon as possible. 

Knocking on the glass door she saw a brief flash of confusion cross his face. Letting her into his store she was able to admire the details that she hadn't noticed before. He had truly done a good job at designing and branding his store. He gestured for her to sit at a small table in the middle of the dining area. She took a seat and he sat across from her. 

"So what's up?" He spoke with an air of what Amy would describe as fake chill. 

Sensing his reluctance to talk to her. She steeled her resolve, "The internet has come up with some interesting theories about the two of us and I thought it might be wise to talk about them, for the benefit of our businesses."

Jake exhaled, "Okay. So what are they saying now?"

"Well first I'm sure you've seen all of the speculation going around the internet about the two of us being a perfect match. How do we want to quiet those rumours?"

An expression that she couldn't read briefly crossed his face before his posture sagged more and somehow became worse than it was before. An idea seemed to hit him as a smile crossed his face before he subtly shook his head and shrugged. 

"Well I have no ideas but clearly you do so what were you thinking?"

He wouldn't meet her eyes, Amy was about to drop it because clearly he didn't even like the idea when he finally spoke, "we could have a fake fight." Amy prided herself on her poker face but her hesitation must have slipped through as he barrelled on, "if we make it public and very clear that we don't like each other in the slightest the internet may back off."

"Okay so what type of fight were you thinking?"

Jake paused for a moment, thinking, "Maybe an argument? A shouting match?"

Amy remembered the last public argument between them and the ensuing issues it had led to. Holt had been less than impressed last time and all Amy wanted was for Holt to not hate her. Originally she wanted him to like her but given everything that seemed unlikely, "What would Holt think?"

"We could clear it with him first."

"I doubt he'd approve it."

A smile crept onto Jake's face, "I've been working with Holt for years if there's one thing I've learned it's that he's always down for some shenanigans."

Amy arched her brow at Jake a disbelieving look on her face.

Jake laughed slightly, "Seriously behind that incredibly professional demeanour he is all about the drama."

"But the signs," Amy countered. In her experience he was explicitly against the drama. He was so against the drama she had terrible memories of the last time she caused even the slightest amount of drama. 

"The whole sign thing was just because he had no control. He has already given us permission to argue." The smirk on Jake's face said he thought it was checkmate. 

"Yeah but that's through signs which is a lot different to an actual argument."

"True. Okay maybe we take a week to think about it. Make an actual plan not just hypotheticals. What else did we need to discuss?"

"The fact that there's a section of the internet that is convinced we're already dating and did all of this for the publicity."

Jake's expression change to one of disbelief, "That's insane."

"I know. Like we'd ever date. We're way too different. There's no chemistry here."

"Yeah. Cool, cool, cool, no doubt, no doubt, no doubt. Well I think the argument would also help tone down those rumours too."

"Anyway I think that was it I just wanted to say I'm really sorry for taking the feud so seriously and making this whole thing explode." Jake's face began to fall so Amy continued on, "Anyway we should make a meeting for next week sometime so we can decide on a plan once we've both had some time to think about what we want to do moving forward." 

"Yeah absolutely." Jake smiled. 

"What about same time same place next week?"

"Well I'll be here. Considering I own the place."

Amy nodded resolutely, "Okay see you then."

There was a sense of control which Amy gained from her meeting with Jake. Discussing the plan moving forward she finally felt like she may have some sort of power over what came next and after a few weeks of chaos it was reassuring to think that she had a chance to get her life back to a normal state. 

Taking a week to think about the plan to deal with the fallout from the interviews was the wise choice and Amy knew this and it was proven to be especially true as everyday she had less customers ask her about Peraltiago and if her and Jake had finally started dating yet. 

While she still had customers ask her about him they seemed to be more accepting of the truth that no they weren't dating, no they hadn't ever dated and they had no plans of ever dating in the future. By the time her meeting with Jake came around the next week she had decided that there was nothing to be done about the rumours. They would continue to fade into the background and a fake argument was not really necessary to calm the rumours any further. In fact she was worried that another public spectacle would be the worst thing for it and just cause the rumours to resurface. Her meeting with Jake went smoothly and he agreed that time was the only solution. It was quite remarkable really they had discovered that they actually got along when they were on the same page and had decided to maintain their weekly meetings to manage the feud and monitor the craziest of fans. 

Ignoring the craziest fan theories became the new normal over the next few weeks. Amy blocked the particularly vocal fans on social media and further strengthened her security procedures to enforce her privacy. She and Jake had become something akin to friends and she settled into a new normal.


	6. A Conversation (or Two)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I'm really bad at this whole regular updates thing.

Jake's stomach dropped. It had been a long day and he had no idea what Amy was doing at his store. The thought that she hated him for the feud and everything that followed was giving him a strange feeling in his stomach that was not at all thanks to the breakfast burrito (a.k.a sour gummies wrapped in a fruit roll up) he had eaten for lunch. Steeling himself, he opened the door and let her into his cafe. 

Gesturing for her to sit he waited for her to start. It was a terrifying few seconds as she seemed to be deciding on the perfect words. He hadn't known her for very long but he had a feeling that she carefully thought out everything she did. Every word, pause and decision carefully mulled over before it was shared with the world. However considered her silence was, it was driving him insane so he gathered up all the nonchalance he could, "So what's up?"

She nodded once, decided, "The internet has come up with some interesting theories about the two of us and I thought it might be wise to talk about them, for the benefit of our businesses."

It felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, she didn't hate him, that was a start, "Okay. So what are they saying now?"

"Well first I'm sure you've seen all of the speculation going around the internet about the two of us being a perfect match. How do we want to quiet those rumours?"

Her assumption that the rumours were bad crushed him for a moment before he checked his emotions. It wasn't that she didn't like him. She didn’t know him and this entire thing was not what either of them had expected. 

An idea hit him. 

A terrible no good idea.

It was so bad she would never agree. 

He shouldn’t even mention it.

"Well I have no ideas but clearly you do so what were you thinking?"

Staring at the ceiling he willed himself to have a better idea. A fake fight was not only a terrible idea but could make all of this worse. The rumours could spiral claiming the fight as a lover's quarrel. They could be filmed and turned into a meme. When an awkward amount of time had passed and he had not thought of a better idea, he finally cracked, "we could have a fake fight." 

Amy was clearly unconvinced by his idea at face value so he pressed on, "if we make it public and very clear that we don’t like each other in the slightest the internet may back off."

"Okay so what type of fight were you thinking?"

This idea had gone further than he had expected and he took a moment to clarify his own thoughts, "Maybe an argument? A shouting match?"

"What would Holt think?"

"We could clear it with him first."

"I doubt he'd approve it."

Jake had to hold back a laugh. Last Halloween had illuminated Holt's love of drama to Jake and Jake was yet to let him live it down, "I've been working with Holt for years if there's one thing I've learned it's that he's always down for some shenanigans."

I was very clear from Amy’s expression that she didn’t believe him. He had to laugh at her expression. Oh what she didn’t yet know about Holt. "Seriously behind that incredibly professional demeanour he is all about the drama."

"But the signs," Amy countered. 

"The whole sign thing was just because he had no control. He has already given us permission to argue." Despite the fact he hated this idea he was starting to look forward to this fake fight and he knew Holt would clear it. 

"Yeah but that's through signs which is a lot different to an actual argument."

Okay so maybe Holt wouldn’t agree to it. "True. Okay maybe we take a week to think about it, we can cross that bridge when we get there, think about an actual plan not just hypotheticals. What else did we need to discuss?"

"The fact that there's a section of the internet that is convinced we're already dating and did all of this for the publicity."

Now this piece of information was news to him and frankly kind of insane like what sort of conspiracy is that, "That's insane."

"I know. Like we'd ever date. We're way too different. There's no chemistry here."

Oof that hit him somewhere right in the gut, "Yeah. No doubt, no doubt, no doubt. Well I think the argument would also help tone down those rumours too."

"Anyway I think that was it I just wanted to say I'm really sorry for taking the feud so seriously and making this whole thing explode. Anyway, we should make a meeting for next week sometime so we can decide on a plan once we've both had some time to think about what we want to do moving forward." 

The last thing he had been expecting was an apology considering he had started the fight but he appreciated the thought, "Yeah absolutely."

"What about same time same place next week?"

"Well I'll be here. Considering I own the place."

Amy nodded, "Okay see you then.”

Walking Amy to the door and unlocking it for her, he watched her as she left his store. It was a weird sensation to see her in his store. It was not uncommon for business owners in the mall to visit their neighbouring businesses but it was a new sight that he felt like he could get used to.

After she had left the store the space felt weirdly empty. It had been a long time since he had been alone in the cafe. In the early days it was quite common for him to send his staff home early and take his time cleaning while dancing and singing to Taylor Swift but the recent success of his business had made it more difficult to clean the entire store by himself. 

For old times sake he turned up the music and danced around the store while scream singing along at the top of his lungs. Once he had danced for a good half hour his energy waned and he sat down for a minute before deciding to head home for the night. Locking up the store properly he headed for the subway to take him home. 

The next week rolled around rather quickly. He had been so busy keeping up with the demands of customers that by the time it was Wednesday he had almost completely forgotten about his meeting with Amy that afternoon. As a thanks for their hard work he sent his staff home earlier than usual and rolled up the sleeves of his flannel shirt to finish up cleaning the store while he waited for Amy. Putting in his head phones and dancing around while he finished up he almost missed Amy’s knock on the door. Letting her in he paused his music and the smile she shot him as she sat down was blindingly big and kind of dorky and Jake felt lighter than he had all week. 

Sitting down at the same table as the week before Jake waited for her to start. “So good news, I think that a fake fight will be totally unnecessary and just reignite all the drama on the internet. I doubt it will help quiet the rumours and I'm already seeing people lose interest. So I think we leave it be.”

Jake tried to keep his expression neutral even happy but internally he was doing the math that no drama meant there would be no reason to spend any time with Amy and he couldn’t help but feel disappointed by that fact. Trying to force a smile onto his face he replied, “noice, that’s great.” 

“Thanks for being willing to help me with all this by the way. It’s just a lot to open a business, then suddenly go viral. Especially for something like this."

"No worries. I remember what it was like to open my own cafe." He hoped his smile was reassuring but it was honestly a lot different for him when he opened The Precinct.

"No offence but why did you open a cafe? You don’t seem like the sort of person who wants to own a small business." Normally he hated questions like that, personal questions, but something about her hopeful smile softened him just enough to share his story.

"Well I wanted to be a detective like John McClane. Since I was little it was my dream he was, well, he still is, my icon."

"You know he's fictional right?"

"Yes I know he's fictional. So I wanted to help people, save people, as dramatic and heroically as possible. I signed up for the NYPD. I got through my training and I was a beat cop for about a year when I got shot."

He lifted the hem of his shirt just slightly to reveal a scar about an inch long. It was obviously old and fully healed over but the raised pale skin betrayed the old injury. 

"After months of rehab and psych appointments they didn't clear me again for field work and I couldn't stand being chained to the desk. So I gave it up." With a small shrug of his shoulders he leaned back in his chair, "This place was for sale by the old owner. I used to come in here almost everyday on my way to the precinct so I bought it. Gina helped me turn this place around and that was it. I was a small business owner."

"Wow that actually makes a lot of sense. I was wondering why anyone would own this much police memorabilia and why so much of your early social media content was die hard themed. But this makes sense." 

She laughed softly at that and he wanted to make her laugh again but his overwhelming curiosity about her story prevailed, “What about you why did you decide to open a cafe?”

“Well most of my family are cops. So it seemed like that was what I should do but when I got to college I realised that it wasn’t really my dream so I added a business degree to my art history degree and aimed to create the sort of place that I wanted growing up.”

The corner of his mouth twitched up into a cheeky grin, “Wow so you were at college for like a hundred years right?”

  
He laughed at the way she immediately shifted back, defensive, “What! No! I’ll have you know I graduated early and top of my class.”

“Okay. Yeah. That tracks.”

Their night devolved into endless conversation and before leaving, far later than they had expected, they made a plan for another meeting next week because (obviously) they should continue to monitor the rumours. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and kudos are always appreciated. You can chat to me @emily-goldfinch on tumblr.


	7. Old Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait. I have no excuse but enjoy.

The days had started to get shorter and colder. Bundled in a good half dozen layers, the warmth from the paper cup she held warmed her fingers as she ventured outside. Locking the door behind her she walked across the mall to The Precinct. The air was thick and her breath puffed out in a white cloud, the ice burning her lungs as she breathed in. Lightly knocking on the door she let herself in, bumping it open with her hip so that she wouldn’t have to remove her fingers from the heat of the cup. It was their sixth weekly meeting and she thought they were friends at this point but she still knocked just to be polite. 

She heard a "Hey just a minute" come from somewhere out the back so she figured he must just be finishing the final bits of his cleaning. She sat at their usual table; it was far warmer inside the cafe and as she waited she removed one of her four jackets and two of her three scarves. He emerged about a minute later with a coffee cup in hand and the biggest goofiest smile on his face. 

"Hey this is for you," She offered him the cup that she had been cherishing, her fingers had regained feeling so she didn’t mourn the loss of warmth. 

His smile somehow got bigger as it lit his entire face, "and for you I present the Peralta." He took the seat opposite her and placed the cup in front of her far more dramatically than was necessary, "Fun fact I invented this drink before I bought the business."

"Okay wow so you weren't kidding when you said you were a regular before. I can't believe we hadn't tried anything from each other's cafes." She tried to keep the annoyance from her face, "I present to you the Diaz unfortunately the Santiago isn't actually our most popular drink so you get this."

His smile softened, "next time I'll try the Santiago I promise." He absently took a sip of the drink she had brought him and promptly had to stifle his instinct to spit it all over the table. His face was the funniest thing she had seen in a long time and she tried to hide her laugh with her hand and mostly failed. "Why is this so spicy?"

"If you'd let me finish I could have warned you that it was a chilli hot chocolate created by one of my baristas and incredibly popular."

A look of confusion crossed his face, “How is this your most popular drink?” He was clearly trying to subtly cool down the burning in his mouth and failing miserably. 

“Oh it's not. It's our most popular specialty drink. We sell way more lattes than anything else but lattes are boring and not a specialty drink. And the deal was that we switch our most popular specialty drinks.” 

“So you gave me this hellfire instead?”

"Yep," Amy finally took a sip of her drink and promptly pulled a face. "Why is this so sweet?"

"It's a Peralta; a triple shot of coffee then sweetened with caramel, maple syrup and a secret ingredient."

"And you have people who both order and like this?"

His eyes widened, offended, a scandalised hand coming to his heart "I both order and like this, I created it specifically for myself."

Without thinking he took another sip of his hot chocolate and managed to avoid spitting it everywhere but the look on his face sent her into another round of laughter. After the first few meetings the online situation had largely calmed down and the meetings continued more out of a desire to hang out than to monitor and strategize. Amy was finding herself more okay with it than she would have expected, while she had planned on civility with her competition friendship is something she could have never predicted. It was nice to have a time every week when she could relax and talk to someone who understood her very unique struggles. 

Like many of their meetings it was on track to run exceptionally late. Unlike any of their meetings before they were interrupted about 8 o'clock. The knock on the door effectively burst their bubble. Looking out into the dark night a smiling face was beaming at them like his dreams had just come true.

Going to unlock the door Jake waved in the visitor, "Amy this is Charles. Charles this is Amy."

Grabbing her bag Amy gestured to the door, "I should head home. It was lovely to meet you Charles." Heading for the door she waved goodbye to Jake and wandered out into the cold night. 

Burying her face in her scarves she all but sprinted to the subway. Desperate for the warm refuge which was her apartment. She hurried around the corner to the station completely missing the human who was rushing in the opposite direction. Colliding with the solid mass of another human she stumbled and fell. Except the impact she had braced for never came, the stranger had caught her and saved her from falling. 

Helping her stand upright once more he released her and just as she looked up at him to thank him for catching her recognition sparked.

"Teddy?" 

Moving her scarves down slightly so he could see more of her face and recognise her she smiled up at him. 

"Oh Amy. Wow. It's been too long." 

"Yeah. We haven't seen each other since what graduation. I own my own business now."

"I'm working as the manager of the pilsner bar on 10th."

"Wow what brings you all the way out here then."

"A scouting trip for the bar apparently there's a place around here called Shaw's that sells the best pilsner in New York. My boss has asked me to try it and find out who makes it so we can get some to trial."

"Wow so how's life been going for you?"

"I've been good. Really good. Want to join me at the bar and catch up?"

Amy debated the pros and cons in her head for a moment before deciding there was no harm in going out with Teddy. She had already lined up Rosa to open the cafe the next day in anticipation of a late night with Jake. Shrugging slightly she agreed, "Okay." Offering his arm they walked the last few blocks to Shaw's together and Amy was grateful for the warmth that overwhelmed her as she walked into the bar. 

Teddy shouted over the din of the bar, "you find us a table, I'll get us some drinks," and with that he disappeared into the small crowd that had formed around the bar. It was a small space with a few well loved booths, half a dozen round tables and a pool table in the corner. Against the far wall there was a dusty looking juke box which was playing some hit from the nineties. The way that they had used their space was sub-optimal and as such annoyed Amy but the vibe was good so she forgave the designer. Scanning the bar Amy found an empty booth and slid in waiting for Teddy to return with the drinks. 

She was grateful that the booth was far enough away from the jukebox that she could hear. When Teddy returned with the drinks, two pilsners, Teddy slid into the booth next to her and they made a toast to old friends. 

They started to discuss their old mutual friends from college and where they were now. It was a shock to Amy that Teddy was still in contact with many of them. Teddy had graduated a year before her and they had ultimately fallen out of touch. She wondered why she was different to many of the people he had kept in contact with. 

They were really quite similar, they were both highly organised and intellectual. He was exactly the sort of person that she tended to gravitate towards. Even in college they had been quite close. They had worked together to plan many events for the business students association. At one point it even seemed like they would make a great couple but then he had graduated and they fell out of touch. 

There was only so much to say about the past so she asked him more about his job and his new found love of pilsners. It was evident that he was passionate about his work and she started to zone out as he described his personal process for brewing pilsners. "...so I discovered if you add the mint before it finishes brewing you get a more deeply infused flavour whereas after creates a fresh aftertaste," Amy nodded not really focused on the words coming out of his mouth. Unable to suppress a yawn she covered her mouth with her hand. Teddy always the perfect gentleman noticed and suggested that she go home and get some rest because it must be hard to run a business. While it was nice to feel like the person she was in college and they had a perfectly pleasant evening she was ready to call it a night. They walked in amicable silence to the subway station.

Around 10 they said finally said goodbye. Standing in that awkward limbo that surrounds most farewells it seemed he was undecided on how to say goodbye. They agreed to catch up again in the near future, exchanging phone numbers as he waited with her for the train. After several moments of awkward deliberation Teddy leaned in for a hug. Embracing him briefly before he pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. The telltale whoosh of air signalled that her train had arrived. Waving as she stepped onto her train she watched as the platform disappeared. By the time she got back to her apartment and crawled into bed, it was still an earlier night than she had anticipated, but she was happy to have been reunited with an old friend. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me @emily-goldfinch on tumblr if you wanna scream at me about stuff.


	8. It's (not) a Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no update. Hope y'all enjoy.

The weekly meetings with Amy had become the highlight of his week, even when she gave him a drink so spicy it set his mouth on fire for a full hour, it was still the highlight of his otherwise boring week. There was something about her. It felt like they had been friends for years, talking with her was easy. They were going through the same things and he would never tire of the way her laughter lit up her eyes as she tried to hide a grin at whatever bad joke he had just made.

A knock on the door this late was never a good sign and seeing Charles through the windows posed more questions than it answered. He was smiling like a child on Christmas morning who had just received the puppy they had been asking for all year. After the awkward introduction between his head chef and his business rival, Amy politely excused herself. It took all of Jake’s willpower not to ask Charles to leave so they could continue with their meeting. 

Taking a deep breath Jake started, "so what are you doing here man?"

"Oh. I forgot my gochujang," at Jake’s blank look he continued, "Korean fermented chilli paste so anyway I thought I'd come back and pick it up. What was Amy doing here?" Charles’s eyebrows seemed to have developed a mind of their own as they waggled up and down suggestively.

Nothing more plausible than the truth occurred to Jake so he stuck to it or at least what he kept telling himself about their meetings, "it was a meeting to strategize about the signs."

"It seems really late for a business meeting"

Jake felt weirdly defensive as he snapped at Charles, "yeah well it's convenient to do it after hours because then we don't have to pay anyone to cover us."

Charles held up in his hands in surrender as he scooted around Jake towards the back. 

Heading for the kitchen Jake heard the sounds of Charles searching for his whatever paste before he emerged with the container held aloft in victory. "Sure Jakey," his tone was dripping with sarcasm, "that's the reason you have after hours meetings with her. Just admit that you like-like her.” His face lit up like he had just discovered a pot of gold, ”Arranging your meetings outside of office hours means that there is no time limit to your meetings."

"Pshaw they are strictly professional."

"Jakey, I have eyes. They are not professional also not all that subtle. You’re sitting in the middle of the store. You have windows.” He waved towards the windows as if Jake needed to be reminded about what his own store looked like. “Maybe consider the consequences of someone sharing the knowledge of your meetings with the internet. I am the president of the Peraltiago fan club. I have a responsibility."

"You mean that figuratively right?"

"Nope you guys are literally so easy to spot. Also I watched you for a solid 20 minutes waiting for you to notice I was there."

That was a disturbing revelation. "I meant about the fan club."

Of all the things to trigger an excited monologue from Charles that was the thing to do it. He started by explaining the newsletter, which led to the fan fiction and then generally devolved to Charles talking about why they are perfect for each other. It seemed that once Charles got started about how Jake and Amy were perfect for each other there was nothing that Jake could do to quiet him on the topic. In his opinion, there was no reason for Jake to still be having meetings with Amy if he didn't like-like her. So, after twenty minutes of Charles trying to get Jake to admit his feelings, Jake finally managed to worm his way out of the conversation with Charles. 

His journey home was cold and quiet. Providing Jake with ample time to stew and dwell and ponder on what Charles had said. While Charles was clearly reading far too much into the situation. The part of Jake which liked Amy as more than a friend was refusing to stay repressed. This was of course a personal insult to Jake who had many years of practice squashing down his feelings. 

Adding a fresh layer of denial to his feelings for Amy he developed a mantra that he repeated in his head any time his pesky emotions reared their completely unfounded heads, there's no chemistry. That is what she had said. It had to be true because she said it. There is no chemistry. 

He tossed and turned trying to fall asleep but his mind had other plans. When he woke after a truly terrible night's sleep he was exhausted and the harsh beeping blaring from his phones alarm was doing little to improve his mood. Reluctantly leaving his bed he threw on some clothes from the pile closest to the door and blearily shuffled his way to the kitchen. Grabbing a fruit roll up from the fruit bowl on the counter he wrapped his scarf around his neck before grabbing his keys and walking out the door. 

The subway, as usual, was crowded and Jake was fully woken up by the crowd of people he had to navigate as he made his way to work. As usual he was already running late to open the cafe but given his track record of punctuality, Terry, his store manager, would have already arrived early to set up the store for the day and there was no doubt that Charles would already be there preparing his kitchen for the day. Walking in dead on opening he was right; the coffee machine was already on and the tables had been set out ready for the day.

Flipping the open sign in the window over Jake quickly shoved his stuff in his office before grabbing his half apron and tying it around his waist before making his way out to the front of the store. The cold weather had scared many customers away, which gave them some extra time to finish preparing for the day before the rush of people ordering coffee on their way to work hit; those unfortunate enough that they had to brave the cold. They began to get busy with Terry serving so Jake could work on the coffee machine. 

He loved working in the cafe, the rhythmic chaos of working in a team. He had struggled to adjust at first. To his new life. Going from a cop to a cafe owner was an adjustment. Those early days had been the hardest. Jake loved solving puzzles and The Precinct was an established business when he bought it. There were no real problems to solve it was running smoothly before he owned it, he was just the new guy signing the paychecks. Many of the employees had been with the business for years and he had been the new guy but also the boss. Terry had been working there for years and had been kind enough to teach Jake everything he knew.

Then the cafe had started to struggle, Jake had no experience running a business and his food and hospitality experience was a single summer working as a dish boy at Sal’s. There was a problem and Jake was woefully unprepared to deal with it. The changes that he tried to implement just weren't sticking and the staff didn't take him seriously. Terry had tried to help but his knowledge was more focused on the day-to-day. He had no one who knew what a business needed so he did the best he could but he was drowning. One night after a particularly bad week he broke down crying in front of Gina who had put up half the capital to help him buy the business. In true Gina style she immediately resigned from her job as an assistant to a police captain and took over the marketing. 

She had been pretty hands off for the last couple of years as she focused on her own career. She still provided them with a plan for the store and it was easy to maintain her plan when there was the constant danger of Gina inspecting the store in disguise. She had once worn a wig just to put her hair up so no one would recognise her and it worked. The staff were clueless and then she had pulled the barista aside and said something to him which made him cry. Jake had no idea what she said and frankly he was afraid to ask but her methods worked. Given the constant level of quality and the trendy menu people returned over and over. After Gina had worked her magic Jake finally felt like it was his cafe. 

Nowadays he handles the day to day and Gina directs the big picture. 

Charles had been about as subtle as he usually was, which is to say that no customers knew about his meetings with Amy but all the staff knew before lunch as he mentioned it to Terry and Terry shared it in the group chat. Charles would have put it in the group chat but he was not a member of the staff group chat and therefore unaware of its existence. He had been removed from all staff group chats after a particularly bad incident on the last official staff group chat. Unknown to Jake they had started a betting pool on when they would get together and were currently debating if Charles had given them enough evidence to call them dating. The current consensus was that there was not enough evidence given Charles' penchant for dramatics. 

After no sleep and many hours of work Jake was tired, putting off his paperwork till tomorrow he decided that he should at least check his emails before heading home. His first two emails were invoices from suppliers and he noted down their due dates onto his calendar so he wouldn't forget them. Next there was an enquiry from an Instagram "influencer" asking for a sponsorship. Sending back a quick rejection he moved on. 

The final new email was from Holt with the subject line 'annual holiday party' opening it he felt like a kid inspecting their candy bucket on a particularly good Halloween. 

Every year Holt threw the best holiday party for the business owners or managers within the mall. It was meant to encourage a sense of community but most of the invitees treated it as an opportunity to forget they were meant to be responsible and drink until there was no tomorrow at the open bar. For Jake it was a highlight of the year; each owner got to invite a plus one which meant Jake got to play his favourite game: human bingo. Spotting the reoccurring people who did the same things every year. It was a night which was an incredible amount of fun despite the formal nature of the gathering. Presents were strictly forbidden and the food was usually divine. Plus there was always a surprise organised by Holt. Last year he had hired a chocolate fountain and it was incredible. 

Sending his RSVP to Holt he wrote the date on his calendar, shut down his computer and headed home for the night. This year's party was going to be the best yet. He could feel it in his bones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wanna find me elsewhere I'm @emily-goldfinch on tumblr.


	9. Adult Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An update on my story? It's more likely than you think.

It was a good morning. She woke to her first alarm and the sun had emerged despite the almost constant cloud cover. It was three weeks till Christmas and despite the Christmas craziness which had infected many of her customers she had rostered herself half a day off to finish her Christmas shopping and the day was looking bright. 

She had rostered Rosa to open the store for her and she just had to come in over lunch before she could head out for the day. Leisurely making herself a bowl of porridge she pottered around the kitchen making herself a cup of coffee while it was cooking. The ding of the microwave alerted her that her breakfast was ready. Taking her breakfast to her favourite spot by the window she sat down to eat while checking her email. Beyond the standard invoices and spam emails there was an invite to a Christmas party. Reading the email her breakfast was soon forgotten. A high pitched squeal escaped her mouth as the excitement overcame her. 

Pulling her calendar from her bag she noted the date of the party and the RSVP date. A party like this was the ideal place to improve Holt’s impression of her. It seemed obvious to her that the first step to impressing Holt was to not seem too eager so she planned to RSVP the week before the set date. Still punctual but not an immediate response. Although it was a holiday party it was to be held in mid January to accommodate the fact that many retail stores were incredibly busy before the new year. Holt was so classy he had given a full 6 weeks notice before the party with the RSVP date a week before the party. 

Once she had reeled in her excitement she finished her breakfast and washed up the few dishes she had used before going to get dressed for the day. Pulling on a simple pair of black slacks and a white button down she moved to the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair. Pulling it up and out of her face she secured it into a simple slick ponytail. Putting on her boots before layering on her warmest jackets. Grabbing her keys, bag and phone she noticed an unread message from Teddy.

_ Hey it was great running into you. Would you like to get dinner sometime? _

Pondering over her answer for a minute as she double checked she had everything she replied  _ That would be lovely. Would Friday work for you? _

His response was almost instant  _ Friday works. I’ll see you then. _

Friday was the first of several dates and Amy was happier than she had been in a while. Her dates with Teddy were easy. He was a gentleman. They had history. He was stable and sure. Most would say he was boring. But not Amy. Amy likes stability and surety. He was nice. It was nice so she asked him to be her plus one to Holt’s Christmas party. 

She sent her RSVP to Holt notifying him that she would be attending with a plus one and they fell into a routine. Their date night was on Friday after she had closed the store. They usually went to some sort of bar or pub or brewery. Once they went to Teddy's place. Where nothing happened except a long demonstration of his favourite pilsner brewing techniques. It was exactly what she had expected her perfect romance to look like, except she had imagined less talk about pilsners. 

Teddy was smart. 

Teddy was nice. 

Teddy was her date to the Christmas party. 

Amy was happy. She was. This was exactly what she wanted.

The weather in January was freezing and showing no signs of warming anytime soon. The dress she had picked was unsuited to the weather outside but after many years of hating the cold Amy had picked up many tricks to make it work. So while she wore a red lace dress with a sweetheart neckline which fell just above her knees. She had layered two pairs of stockings one of which were fleece lined underneath and she had a long coat and her warmest scarf to layer over her dress. Her phone buzzed in her bag; it was from Teddy  _ I'm here. _ She quickly sent back  _ coming _ , put on her outermost layers and locked the door behind her as she emerged from her building into the cold winter night. 

Teddy was waiting in the car and as she slid into the passenger seat she leaned over to peck his cheek. The restaurant where the party was being held was three shops down from the cafe. It was in an old building and run by an old Italian man who always smiled when he saw Amy take the garbage out to the dumpster. 

It had been closed and decorated specifically for the event with fairy lights twinkling from the roof, a large cupcake decorating station against the back wall and a mahogany bar against the left wall. 

They stepped into the restaurant arm in arm. Teddy made a joke about pilsners which Amy half laughed at as they headed toward the bar. They had arrived ten minutes early as Amy was punctual to a fault and there were maybe half a dozen guests who had arrived before them. 

Once they had their drinks in hand Amy began scanning the room. Spotting Holt she headed in his direction. This was it. She finally had a chance to redeem herself for the embarrassing blunder that was the whole fiasco with the signs.

“Miss Santiago how nice to see you under better circumstances.” He was smiling at her. Well at least she thought it was a smile. Most of his expressions looked the same and the awkward silence which was a result of her trying to decipher his expression sent her into panic mode.

“Those slacks are a knockout,” Amy cringed. Internally. Externally. It had been loud and awkward. Her normally flawless posture faltered and while in that moment her posture was nowhere near as bad as Jake's was on a day to day basis. It was still bad. Taking a deep breath she tried to calm herself. 

She heard a laugh that she recognised from across the room. Spotting Jake talking to Gina she politely excused herself from the terribly awkward situation she had created and headed over to say hello. As she got closer it hit her that Jake cleaned up well. Like really well. His hair had been tamed and pushed back away from his face with evidently more care than he used on a daily basis. The semi-formal dress code had resulted in him wearing a navy suit with a white shirt and thin charcoal grey tie. The suit jacket was snug around his shoulders and Gina whispered something to him which resulted in him choking on his drink before he elbowed her in the side. Teddy followed her over to Jake. Spotting her as she made her way over to him, his smile grew. Looking over her shoulder he spotted Teddy and his face fell slightly but the smile quickly returned. 

Amy leaned in to give Jake a hug and as she stepped away Teddy extended his hand to shake Jake’s hand. “Teddy this is Jake, owner of The Precinct. Jake this is Teddy my...” 

Amy paused trying to find the right way to introduce him and just as she went to finish her sentence with my old friend from college. Teddy cut her off, “Hi I’m Teddy, Amy’s boyfriend”

Okay so maybe they had been dating for a month and a half at this point but they had not discussed labels for whatever was happening between them and hearing Teddy say it out loud just felt wrong. Smiling politely through the small talk Amy was acutely aware of the awkwardness which permeated the conversation and was surely emanating off of her in waves. Soon enough the conversation lulled and Amy and Teddy excused themselves to make small talk with the other business owners. 

After six too many conversations about the weather or the economy or the ever increasing costs of doing business Amy was glad to be interrupted by the sound of a glass being tapped gently with a fork. Everyone turned towards Holt who was standing at the back of the room with his husband Kevin. “Thank you all for attending. It has been incredibly important for me to create and foster an environment and community where we are a team who work together and support each other so we can be successful together. So at the conclusion of this holiday season and the beginning of the new decade I would like to wish everyone the best and request that you have a good time tonight.” Turning away from the eyes on him he muttered something quietly to his husband which got a small laugh from Kevin and the noise returned to the room like a wave.

The atmosphere of the room had changed. It was unlike anything Amy had ever seen. The conclusion of Holt’s speech had created an atmosphere of unbridled excitement and when Gina called out “shots” it was obvious what was about to happen. 

Amy had been nursing the same glass of red wine since the beginning of the night and while she had had no intention of drinking more than a few drinks she found herself once more with Jake and Gina this time however they each had a shot of tequila. After downing her shot she licked the salt from the back of her hand before biting into the lemon.

It had been a while since she had seen Teddy and she wasn’t missing his absence. Last time she had seen him he had been debating the pros and cons of a lager compared to a pilsner and the time before that she had been trapped in an awfully boring conversation about something called jazz brunch. 

By her fifth drink the party had become a bit of a blur and she was feeling great. It had been a fantastic night of dancing and partying and drinking and she was feeling weirdly confident. Turning to Jake, who had not strayed from her side all night and if she was sober she may have noticed this fact, she was struck by an idea, “I bet you anything that this time next year I will have sold more cups of coffee than you.”

“Oh really,” the smirk on his face was infuriating to Amy and she wanted nothing more than to kiss it off his face. 

She was drunk. That was a drunk thought but she absolutely under no circumstances could allow him to know that she thought it. He was her friend. They were friends and anything more would make it weird and that was the last thing she wanted. She slurred a little, “Yeah absolutely our coffee is way better than that garbage you sell.”

Jake pulled himself up so it almost seemed like he had good posture and held his hand out to shake, “Okay then you’re on.”

She grabbed his hand and shook it firmly before Gina called out,"shots," from the other side of the room and the moment was effectively broken by Gina forcing more alcohol into their hands. 

The rest of the night passed in a happy blur, it had been a fun and eventful night. Teddy dropped Amy home with a polite goodnight kiss on the cheek. She smiled and waved him goodbye as she retreated into the warmth of her apartment and began drafting her break up speech.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find me @emily-goldfinch on tumblr feel free to talk to me.


	10. Drink, Drank, (Love) Drunk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. I doubt anyone was truly desperate for an update but here you go. Sorry it took so long. Turns out I'm an essential employee. Who knew?

Holt's holiday party was the best thing about owning the cafe. Yeah sure Jake loved the day to day routine and the regulars and the staff but the holiday party was something else entirely. Free booze, bad music and delicious food. A true occasion of revelry which Jake didn’t have to pay for which given his crippling personal debt was a massive bonus. It was a night of drunken debauchery and held one of his most treasured traditions: judging the other owners with Gina. Whether it was Boone and his increasingly obvious hair plugs or Doug and Trudy Judy crashing the party trying to convince people to invest in their latest scheme. He may have been fooled in the past. But not this year. This year he was going to judge those who got fooled.

The dress code was more formal than Jake would like but wearing a tie was a small price to pay for the joy that was the annual Christmas party.

Arriving fashionably late is the only possible way to arrive when you're travelling with Gina. As his business partner she was obviously attending the party; she is never one to pass up the promise of free booze and he knows she loves judging the other owners just as much as he does. Stepping into the restaurant he was immediately assaulted by Boone. Since Jake’s first Christmas party Boone had made it a point to antagonize Jake because he was convinced that cafes were inferior to restaurants and he took any and every chance he got to make sure Jake knew that he owned an inferior business. It was always especially bad at the yearly holiday party where it was impossible to avoid him. 

Jake stood there halfheartedly listening to Boone as he scanned the crowd looking for any way out of the conversation. His rescue came when Gina pulled him away from Boone to check out the cupcake making bar and in the middle of his escape he heard it. Well he heard  _ her _ , "those slacks are a knockout." Scanning the crowd he saw her. She was talking to Holt and he held in a laugh as he watched her shrink in embarrassment. 

She spotted him and he felt more excited than he thought was possible. He was sure he looked stupid with the amount he was smiling. "You could at least pretend not to be in love with her." He was in the process of elbowing Gina in response to her wildly incorrect statement when he saw someone trailing behind her. Unbidden the thought that this was her boyfriend popped into his head. His stomach dropped. No. It's fine he doesn't like her like that. Gina is wrong; he doesn't like her. She is the owner of his business’s competition. That would be crazy. So thank goodness he doesn't like her like that because that would be bad. No, the sinking stomach was related to something else entirely. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast. He was hungry. Yes that was it; he was hungry.

She finally made it through the crowd and pulled him into a hug. She looked stunning and smelled like freshly baked cookies and she's talking. Actively switching his focus to concentrate on listening to her voice she introduces Teddy, her boyfriend.

Amy's boyfriend. Teddy. What a stupid name. What a stupid face.

Jake's heart sinks down somewhere to his knees. Wow he must be really hungry. His stomach normally doesn’t feel like this at all.

Plastering a smile back on his face he made the standard small talk. It was stilted and awkward and wrong. He missed the easy conversation of their late night meetings. He tried to channel the ease of those meetings by making a joke about how incredibly spicy the Diaz was; he watched as her eyes lit up as she laughed. Glancing at Teddy who looked incredibly confused. Amy explained that Teddy doesn't drink coffee, he exclusively drinks water and pilsners. Wow, Amy must really love Teddy, her boyfriend, who doesn’t even drink coffee.

After that the small talk fizzled. Amy and Teddy excused themselves to go mingle with the other party guests. 

As Jake stared at the retreating forms of Amy and her boyfriend, Teddy, Gina casually shared her opinion that the Diaz was in fact the best type of coffee. His jaw dropped as she laughed at him. Betrayal surged through him, "What the hell Gina you're buying coffee from Santiago's?"

"Um yeah it's the best chilli coffee I've ever had we should really look at incorporating something similar." The smug look on her face suggested that she was more than happy with his reaction and she graciously decided to pivot before he did something he would regret, "Oh look Holt's about to make his speech."

And god dammit she was right. Holt had stood and moved to the spot where he stood every year to give his holiday speech. Which was always short and succinct but somehow absolutely perfect. One year he had described love as oatmeal and it was weirdly moving. The sound of Holt gently tapping his glass with a fork sent a hushed silence over the room and Jake felt the excitement build. It was like this every year. An hour or so of mingling and pretending to be responsible business owners. Followed by Holt giving a two to five minute speech about community and family. Before the entire party erupts into incredibly fun chaos. The sort of chaos only people who spend 364 days of the year acting responsibly can create when finally released from their responsibility. Jake barely listens to Holt's short speech as he prepares for what is about to come. To say that Gina is a catalyst for the mayhem which occurs every year at Holt's party would be an understatement. Within seconds of Holt concluding his speech she has already screamed "shots" and dragged both him and Amy to the bar. It is alarming the speed at which she acquires them a shot of tequila each with lemon and salt to act as a chaser. 

Somewhere around his fourth drink he felt Amy tug him towards her as she turned towards him. A look he could only describe as resolved was plastered across her face as she said to him with all the confidence in the world, “I bet you anything that this time next year I will have sold more cups of coffee than you.”

It was very obvious that Amy was drunk and unlikely to remember this come morning so he smirked back at her, “Oh really,” 

For a moment, a single fraction of a second she looked like she may back down from her claim. “Yeah absolutely our coffee is way better than that garbage you sell.” Any doubt had disappeared from her face as she doubled down on her boast. 

There was no way in hell he could let that go, she had called his coffee garbage, pulling himself up in an attempt to seem more serious he stuck out his hand, “Okay then you’re on.” Amy looked incredibly serious as she shook his hand. The moment didn't last very long as she was distracted by a new drink being placed in front of her, courtesy of Gina.

From there the night quickly devolves into one of the best nights he's had in a long time. He spends his night with Amy and occasionally Gina. They drink and talk and dance. She's not a very good dancer so he grabs her hand and guides her through some simple moves. His toes will be bruised in the morning but he can't find it in himself to care. 

Eventually the night ends and he feels the sadness creep in as Amy leaves with Teddy. Staggering from the uber he shared with Gina he makes his way to his apartment where he quickly collapses onto his bed and his thoughts race unbidden as the reality of the night dawns on him. 

Amy was taken. Amy had a boyfriend. It was ridiculous to pine for her. He had to move on. They could be friends. That would be fine. Good even. Less could go wrong if they were just friends. Less chance of ruining it all and never seeing her smile. Or hearing her laugh. Or the face she made when she was trying really hard not to laugh because she didn’t want to encourage his terrible jokes.

It was for the best really and as he fell asleep his heart broke just a little.

Not that he would admit that.

The next morning came far too soon and with a stream of light shining directly into his eyes which did nothing to help his pounding head. Reaching blearily for the aspirin he keeps in his bedside table he took two before burying his face in his pillow in a desperate attempt to stop the room from spinning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always you're welcome to chat with me in the comments or on tumblr I'm @emily-goldfinch feel free to say hi.


End file.
